Retail Management - “in the Retail Context, Doing Business and Living Life Converge”

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An independent Retailer builds up his business from scratch, up to where he desires it to be. All activities including business planning to the entry stage lie on the shoulders of the owner. Consultants and staff may be hired to help in the business operation. This kind of retailing has endless opportunities (Berman & Evans, 2007).

An Existing Retail Business, as opposed to independent retailing, already has a foundation. This occurs when one buys or inherits an existing business, consequently assuming responsibility of someone else’s hard work.

Franchising involves buying the right to use a name, concept, product or business plan of someone (Berman & Evans, 2010). This strategy has high initial costs and less flexibility, though the main company provides its franchises with a good network, training and an established customer base.

Dealership is a model where retailers are acquainted with the dealership of a mother company’s product, thus acquiring the right to sell its products, while dealing in other products as well. There are usually no fees paid to obtain the license (Berman & Evans, 2007).

Network marketing, also known as Multi-level marketing, is a model where the sale of products lies on the number of people available in the network. It thus involves both the sale of products and massive recruitment of retailers (Berman & Evans, 2007).

Strategic Management of the Retail Mix

Strategic management is defined as both the art and science of management that requires analytical and creative skills, to create an overall framework of action and help the manager coin the desired image and position of the institution in the market (Berman & Evans, 2010). Retail strategy thus refers to the plan used to get more competitive than others through an innovative variation of the retail mix to penetrate and dominate the market (Yu-Jia, 2012, p.157). A retail marketing mix refers to those variables that can be combined in a calculated manner by a retailer to meet a given marketing strategy (Gooner, Morgan, & Perreault, 2011). The elements included here are product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence (also known as the 6Ps) (Berman & Evans, 2010). In order to effectively compute a strategy of managing the retail mix, one would have come up with a mission statement, establish objectives, carry out a situation analysis, chose target markets, establish positioning strategy, implement the strategy and finally evaluate results (Berman & Evans, 2007). An effective manipulation of the retail mix provides an effective strategy through which an institution can use to penetrate the market, and achieve a superior brand positioning.

Conclusion

From the discussions posed herein, it suffices to conclude that operation of a retail business is as involving as living a personal life. Since the owner is in most cases an individual, the success of a retail institution lies squarely on him. This has been evidenced in the various types of retail ownership as well as the intuitiveness needed to implement an effective strategic retail mix management.

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List of References

Bennett, P. D., 1966. Retailing Evolution or Revolution in Chile. Journal of Marketing, 30, 38-41.

Berman, B. & Evans J.R., 2010. Retail Management: A Strategic Approach, 11th Ed.; Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Berman, B. & Evans J.R., Ed., 2007. Great Ideas in Retailing, Upper SaddleRiver, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Gooner, R. A., Morgan, N. A. & Perreault, W. D., 2011. Is Retail Category Management Worth the Effort? Journal of Marketing. 75(5), 18-33.

Greyser, S., 1976. Foreword in McNair, M. P. and May. E. G. The Evolution of Retail Institutions in the United States. Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge.

Hollander, S, C., 1966. Notes on the Retail Accordion. Journal of Retailing, 42, 29-40.

Hollander, S. C.1960. The Wheel of Retailing. Journal of Marketing, 24, 37- 42.

Yu-Jia H., 2012. The moderating effect of brand equity and the mediating effect of marketing mix strategy on the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty: The case of retail chain stores in Taiwan. International Journal of Organizational Innovation., 5(1), 155-162.